Don't Say That I Didn't Love You
by OpheliaBlack
Summary: It's hard to say goodbye. A series of 500 word drabbles, in which final farewells are said to Fi, Ezlo, Navi, Tatl, Midna, Aryll, Marin, and Princess Hilda. Brief Midzel and Hilzel, implied Midlink and vague Link/Marin
1. Skyward Sword

It really ought to come as no surprise that Fi's voice is perfectly cold and clinical, but her words freeze Link anew. "My purpose is complete. Therefore, I ask you to dissolve our arrangement as master and servant."

He shakes his head. 'You were never my servant, you're my friend. Please, I want to have my friend at my side. We have so much left to do.'

"That is incorrect. You have much work to do, but our task together is complete. Demise has been sealed away, and the plan put in motion by the goddess has succeeded. I understand that it is your wish to introduce the people of Skyloft to the Surface, but I have no purpose to serve in this."

Link's shoulders slump, and he hangs his head. There was never any use persuading Fi in anything. 'I don't know how to do it alone,' he admits, grateful at least that Zelda and Groose cannot see his words from behind his back.

"Allow me to tell you everything that I know." She closes her eyes and falls silent for a moment, and Link waits patiently, prepared for a long lecture but eager to drink in any possible word of advice.

Fi's eyes flick open once more. "Link. I have calculated a 100% probability that you will succeed at every task put before you, and that you will continue to demonstrate true greatness. Her Grace could not have chosen a finer champion."

Tears well in his eyes, but before he can blink them back, he feels the brush of cold metal against his cheek as the spirit reaches out to him. "There. There," she states, forcing a laugh from him.

'I'm all right, Fi,' he grumbles, embarrassed but touched that she could recognize his sadness.

Fi gives a single nod. "Yes, you are all right, and you will be all right. So will I."

Her words fail to convince him. 'A sleep without end is little more than death. I can't lose you to that. Not after everything we've been through.'

She gazes at him, impassive as ever. "Your fear should not be for my sake, but for all of humanity. If the words of Demise come true, then he will be reborn without end. The goddesses must choose a warrior to face him once more, perhaps many times more, and I will reawaken for the fight. Allow me to assure you that their hero must live up to your legacy, if they would be worthy of being my Master. Now that I have experienced fighting alongside you, I can accept nothing less."

The tears come faster this time; one escapes and rolls down his cheek. 'You honor me.' She nods thoughtfully, as though agreeing.

"Thank you, Master Link. May we meet again in another life…"

Link's heart rises at the thought, but with her warning about Demise fresh in his ears, his hope is tinged with guilt. _Sleep well, dear friend. Let us be reunited in peace._


	2. Minish Cap

Before his adventure, Link had never worn a hat of any kind, but grew accustomed to his avian companion's weight upon his head. His new cap, however, was a light cloth, and he shakes his head experimentally. The old man before him frowns, and strikes his staff against the ground.

"What's all this fidgeting about, Link?" His voice sounds weak and distant, no longer barked directly into the boy's ear. Link stills, but his sharp eyes remain fixed upon him, demanding an answer.

'I- it's a lot to take in, that's all,' he says, lamely. Ezlo nods, reaching up to stroke his long white beard.

"Indeed, how lovely it is to have the world back to normal. I'm relieved that we had gotten here just in time." At Link's side, Princess Zelda nods vehemently and wraps her arms tightly around her torso, shivering. Link watches her carefully from the corner of his eye, uncertain what side effects to expect following her release from her stone prison.

"I'm… more than just a little sad that we must part ways now," Ezlo muses.

'Then don't.' Link crosses his arms stubbornly.

The old man lets out a wheezing chuckle. "My dear boy, I'm afraid that this world is far too big for me. It is time that we both return home."

Link frowns, and begins to argue before Zelda steps forward, head bowed. "I cannot thank you enough, sir. Once again Hyrule is in the debt of the Picori. We will not forget this." Her normally bold, ringing voice sounds thin and raspy from disuse, and Link is touched with concern to hear his dear friend so frail. He puts an arm around her, and after a moment's hesitation she leans into his support.

Ezlo eyes her carefully. "You look after her now, lad," he advises Link, worry creasing his forehead. Link dares not remove his arm from his weakened friend to respond, and merely nods. "Vaati's curses are no small matter, but I hope for both our sakes that recovery will be swift."

"And you, princess," he continues in a louder voice. "If I may, I would ask you to look after the boy here, in my stead. Keep him out of trouble, now, don't do anything I wouldn't do." The young girl laughs, and Link grins at her, already eager to hear what new mischief she had dreamed up in his absence.

Ezlo waves his staff in a pattern that Link knows well, and in an instant, shrinks from the size of an adult human to a creature an inch tall. It seems impossible to Link that he had ever been so small himself, that every blade of grass had towered above him like the canopies of the greatest forests.

The tiny man pauses before the Sanctuary, and calls out in a faint voice that Link only just makes out on the edge of his hearing.

"Farewell, my friend…"

The glowing portal slowly reverts to lifeless stone, and all is still.


	3. Ocarina of Time

It's always an unusual feeling, moving through time. Or rather, standing still and allowing time to move around him. Link had always hated being still, hated the thought of missing out while his peers ran and shrieked and played in the forest without him. Had they missed him, the boy without a fairy?

Had they even noticed that he had left?

As soon as the concern touches him, the boy shakes his head. After the perils that he had endured and battles he had won, how was there still room in his heart for fear? Not fear for his life, but the age-old fear of rejection? And from a group of children, no less.

_Who cares about them? I can play with Saria again!_

He smiles, cheered by the thought of his oldest friend, and all the grand stories he had to share with her. Link steps away from the Master Sword for the last time. 'We did it, Navi. Let's go home.'

But his fairy does not follow.

The boy looks up. 'Navi?'

Unusually silent, she flies up and up, exiting through a wrought-iron window at the top of the chamber. He cranes his neck to follow her ascent, and remains there for a full minute.

_…I don't think she's coming back._

The thought cuts him deeper than he cares to admit, and he forces himself to abandon his watch below the window. Link lingers uneasily in the Temple of Time, alone and lost and weary from battle.

From battle…

_None of it was real, was it? The spiritual stones, the Sages, Ganondorf entering the Sacred Realm, did any of it happen?_ He glances back at the Master Sword, wondering if the little voice inside would have any advice for him, in Navi's stead. Yet he dares not touch it and repeat his error of the past.

But how to keep that terrible future from happening?

When the solution comes to him, it's so simple that the boy laughs aloud. _Princess Zelda will know what to do. She'll still want to open the Sacred Realm; I'll go tell her why it won't work._

Link smiles, and gently pats his hat. 'We're off to the castle, Navi,' he announces. As soon as the words leave him, silent as ever, the lack of an acknowledging chime leaves the temple almost oppressive in its stillness. His grin vanishes, flown out that tall window along with his friend.

He finds the young princess in her castle's garden, peering through the window at the man that Link had only just defeated. It was exactly how he had met her before, in that other life that he now carries inside him. _Will that life be a badge of honor or shame? Have I learned enough from our mistakes? Will we be clever enough to stop him this time?_

At the sound of his footsteps, the princess spins around. Zelda brings a hand to her mouth and stares at him in surprise, eyes bright with recognition.


	4. Majora's Mask

Dawn of a new day.

When Link had first stumbled into Termina, he could hardly take his eyes off the moon looming over him, held captive by its menacing bulk and leering gaze. He had quickly become accustomed to the ever-present behemoth, however, and when he beholds the now clear sky over Termina for the first time, its uninterrupted expanse looks… empty.

For the first time in weeks (or, perhaps, in three days), Link allows himself a smile.

Slowly, the celebratory party takes their leave, leaving the Link facing the Skull Kid and the newly reunited fairy siblings. Link tries to avoid thinking of the third fairy who should be present, the one whose flight had brought him into this doomed land in the first place.

He enjoys the glow of victory for a minute more, before Tatl flits towards him. "Well… it's almost time for the carnival to begin… So, why don't you just leave and go about your business? The rest of us have a carnival to go to."

_There wouldn't be a carnival without me._ The words don't leave him, filled with juvenile indignation as they are. _Are the lives of all these people not reward enough for you? _Link merely nods instead. 'Yeah... I guess so.'

He swings up onto Epona's back, but does not yet touch his heels to her sides. _Go where? Do what? There's nothing waiting for me in Hyrule._ He looks over the field to Clock Town, where the first fireworks were shooting into the air. Link knows the people within those walls, knows their names and faces and struggles, had listened to their troubles and done all he could to bring about a true peace. He thinks of Romani and Cremia, and the ranch he had defended. He thinks of Anju and Kafei, and their wedding to come. And above them all, the town and the Deku and the Gorons and the Zora, all saved from their own terrible fates.

_Only Princess Zelda knows what I did for Hyrule, but everyone here knows me. I can make a new home, with my new friends._

He thinks of the words of the Happy Mask Salesman, only minutes ago. "Shouldn't you be returning home as well? Wherever there is a meeting, a parting is sure to follow."

_I have no home, and too many partings. _He feels old, worn thin by the ages that he had lived through and battles hard won, time that never truly happened. _The Kokiri remain children forever. Does it feel like this?_

Link looks at the departing trio, these pieces of his old forest. They were two boys who had failed to make their home in the Lost Woods, a Skull Kid and a pretend Kokiri, and then the two fairies. _He wants us to be friends? …I'd like that._

He dismounts his horse, and Tatl turns back to him, chiming softly. Link raises a hand, waving eagerly to the other boy. 'Hey, Skull Kid! Wait for me!'


	5. Twilight Princess

Upon seeing his dear companion returning safely home, tall and strong and whole, Link is filled to the brim with admiration and pride. Surely, nothing less than the first cracks forming in the Mirror of Twilight can spoil their triumph.

He notices it before Princess Zelda does, jaw dropping. Wrenching his gaze back towards Midna, he allows the small smile on her face to reassure him, just for a moment. _She wouldn't leave me, right? After everything?_

He takes a staggering step towards her, arm outstretched, but she's already gone, the glowing portal fading away.

The Mirror shatters. It's not the only thing that does.

Long moments later, Zelda's even voice comes to him as though through a dense fog. "I'm sorry."

Link shakes his head, frantic, refusing the evidence before his eyes. 'We can– we can put it back together! Build a new one!"

"If such a thing were possible, would she not break it again, for the same reason?"

'But she's wrong! She doesn't have to leave forever!'

"She can hardly stay here."

'I could have gone with her!'

"It wouldn't be right. This is not her world, and that," she points to the black stone, "is not yours. She would have suffered here, as you would suffer there."

Link crosses his arms, scowling and turning away. Zelda's argument is perfectly logical, he knows, but what is logic in the face of raw emotion?

"Link…"

He doesn't look at her. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knows it isn't fair or proper to unleash his anger upon Zelda, both as an innocent bystander and as his monarch, but reason does not rule him.

She sighs. "Link. I didn't want her to go either. You weren't the only one who loved her."

He whirls around at that, but the princess isn't looking at him, gazing instead at the broken Mirror pedestal and rubbing the back of her hand absentmindedly. "I did not know what would happen, when I lent her my power, only that it would save her life," she murmurs. "I did not know that it would bind my spirit to hers, that I would come to know her mind and heart as if they were my own. But it did."

It's a lot to take in, but if nothing else, it explains her resigned acceptance. 'So… did you know she was going to do this?' He gestures in the direction of the pedestal, unable to bear the sight of it.

Zelda gives one curt nod, her expression unreadable. "I did." Link's eyebrows fly up, but the princess raises a hand and shakes her head. "I disagreed with it, but her decision was made as soon as she learned how Zant had come by his power. There's nothing we could have said to dissuade her."

'Then there's… nothing here for us. She's not coming back.'

"No."

Even so, they stand together for a time, watching the lifeless stone with only the howling desert wind for company.


	6. Wind Waker

The sun hangs low over Outset Island as the little family finishes their fourth dinner after being reunited. Despite knowing that both the Helmaroc King and Ganondorf had been defeated, Link had begun to insist upon taking the chair facing the window, where he might keep an eye out for threats to his dear sister. It had been Aryll's preferred spot, where she could watch the sunsets bleed into the endless ocean, but the serious expression on her brother's face had convinced her to comply without protest.

They speak only a little during the meal, content to enjoy each other's company. It isn't until the dishes are cleared away that the old woman turns to her grandson.

"So, you set sail at dawn, is that right?" Aryll gasps loudly, and Link carefully avoids her gaze as he nods.

"What?" she cries. "You can't go! We just got back!"

"Do not raise your voice indoors, Aryll," Grandma chides, gently. The girl turns to her instead, unrepentant.

"Grandma, stop him! Tell him to stay!" she pleads, and Link's heart grows heavy with shame.

"Link is old enough to make his own decisions now. He can go wherever he likes, so long as he remembers to write to his granny," Grandma says. She offers him a watery smile, but turns away quickly, busying herself with her pot of soup.

Link feels a weight on his arm, and finds that Aryll had attached herself there, peering up at him miserably. "Did I do something wrong, big brother?"

'No!' he insists, but her lip trembles. 'We're going to find a new land. The next Hyrule,' he explains. But his sister stamps her foot, overcome by anger even as her first tears fall.

"Who cares about Hyrule? Those are just stories!"

'I do,' he snaps, her careless words striking him like a physical blow. It's still too soon.

Too soon after watching the sea crash down upon the drowned kingdom.

Too soon after abandoning the long-forgotten king, his stalwart companion, to a watery grave.

Princess Zelda had begged King Daphnes to save himself, to flee for safety alongside them, but once the children had resurfaced, Tetra had accepted his decision with an unnervingly calm rationality. "A captain never abandons her ship," she had declared, and her pirates nodded sagely. "What is a king but a captain on land?"

Link looks down at his sister. 'I promised a good friend that I would do this. He gave up so much to help me get back home. But you have to stay here, Aryll, and look after Grandma. We cannot leave her alone.'

"But you're leaving me alone!" the girl wails, and throws her arms around her brother, sobbing loudly. Awkward but guilty, he gives her a few feeble pats on the back, then looks up as he feels his Grandma's gaze upon him.

To his surprise, she's smiling, sad but proud. "The world is waiting for you, Link. I know you'll be great."

He hopes she's right.


	7. Link's Awakening

Link takes in the scene before him with the eye of an artist bid to commit it all to memory. Every moment on Koholint had become suddenly and deeply precious, and he pledged himself to ensuring that the only record of the island was accurate. No detail escapes his gaze, from the harsh cries of the seagulls wheeling overhead to the way that the salty breeze lifts Marin's shining red hair from her shoulders and into the endless sunlight. She smooths the errant locks with her hand, beaming at Link.

"What did you want to show me?"

He closes his eyes and takes deep breaths through his nose, composing himself. He reaches for his bag, opening it for the girl to peer inside.

She gasps, reaching out a hand but stopping an inch away from the gleaming instruments stored within, not daring to touch them. "These are…" she looks back to him, her expression serious but her eyes shining with excitement. "You're really going to do it, aren't you? You're going to wake the Wind Fish," she says, voice hushed.

Link nods, and Marin clasps her hands together, leaning towards him. "Are you going to make a wish? Will you tell me?"

Though the question has the potential to be deeply personal, and moreover one that Marin herself had refused to answer after her visit to the egg, Link feels a pressing need to share with her, to confess the reason for his crime before it is committed. He looks her carefully in the eye, at her eager and trusting face.

'I'm going to leave the island.' _I'm going to destroy the island._

Marin's smile shines brighter than the tropical sun. "That was my wish too! And if you have the Instruments… Then they must come true!" She places her hands on his shoulders, gazing at him imploringly. "Link, I am so glad that I've met you. Of all the places the storm could have taken you, I'm grateful you came here. Please, will you let me go with you?"

Link thinks of the dreadful painting in the shrine, of all he had learned of Koholint and its dreaming creator. _If I let the Wind Fish sleep, the monsters will destroy everything. If I wake it, the island disappears. What would you have me do?_

'Of course.'

He means the words, he _does_, but they're so close to a lie that they turn to bitter ashes in his mouth. _Forgive me._

She laughs, a sound even sweeter than her singing. "I want to see everything, Link. I want to see Hyrule, and learn all there is to know about it. I want to travel the whole world, and when I get back I can tell everyone all about it just like you've told me. It'll be the grandest adventure anyone's ever seen!" She throws her arms into the air as if to embrace the wide world she had so recently learned of.

He smiles back. 'I can't wait,' he lies.


	8. A Link Between Worlds

"I won't apologize, if that's what you want from me." Princess Hilda's arms are crossed defiantly, her jaw set but her eyes sorrowful. "I am not proud of what I did but I would do it again, if I thought it would work."

"I know."

The other princess watches her carefully, then reaches out to take a lock of golden hair between her fingers, inspecting it as though it were entirely foreign. "Yuga was so proud of your portrait, he considered it his finest work. I had agreed, but seeing you now… it really didn't compare at all." After a moment, she tucks the hair behind Zelda's ear, her movements slow and careful. "My lovely Zelda, the gods have blessed you in ways you couldn't imagine."

"They have not abandoned you, Hilda. Nor will I."

She gives a single bark of laughter, bitter and weak. "Your words are kind, but false. You needn't sugarcoat them for me, I am well acquainted with failure."

Zelda steps forward and embraces her, holding her tightly as if the strength of her grip was enough to impart some of her own fortune upon the cursed princess. It isn't, and she pretends not to notice a growing dampness on her shoulder where Hilda's face rests.

"All is not yet lost. Lorule can still be saved."

Her response is muffled, but her despair is not. "How? Would you give me your Triforce? Would you doom Hyrule in our place?"

"…No."

"More lies, then. I suppose I deserve them."

"No," she insists again, and whispers her plan into Hilda's ear. She jerks her head away, staring at Zelda with a face shining with tears.

"You would do that for me?" she breathes. "After what I've done to you?"

When Zelda nods, Hilda moves so quickly that before Zelda knows what's happening the other princess had pressed their lips together and she finds that she doesn't mind, doesn't mind at all…

It's over quickly, too quickly, but not quickly enough.

Hilda pulls back, keeping their faces close, noses nearly touching. Zelda expects to see some sign of embarrassment at her impulsive action, but the woman looks at her with fierce determination, and she wonders if she had been planning to do it all along, in those long hours she had stood before her portrait.

"If you do this for us, Zelda, you would be the dearest friend in the kingdom's history." The Hylian smiles, warm and encouraging, and Hilda's hard gaze softens at last.

Finally, Zelda loosens her embrace, and the princesses step apart. As one, they move to the glowing crack in the stone, where the two boys had been waiting.

Hilda sighs. "I think I'm going to miss you, you know. Is that wrong of me to say?"

Perhaps it is, but Zelda agrees all the same. "I hope that we may meet again." She looks down at her hand, and the sacred emblem upon it. _Wish me luck, Hilda. I have a promise to keep._


End file.
